The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer, ink jet printer or similar printer of the type using a drum around which a paper sheet is to be wound for printing out information thereon.
While a prerequisite with office automation equipment is that it features advanced functions, such equipment has to be small in size and also low in cost. Miniaturization is also an important consideration with a printer of the type using a drum which belongs to a family of office automation equipment, and various studies and improvements have heretofore been reported.
Some of the printers of the type described are provided with a clamper in the form of a pawl for clamping a paper around the drum. A drawback with this kind of prior art printer is that two exclusive stepping motors are required, one for feeding and discharging a paper and the other for opening and closing the clamper, and an electromagnetic clutch has to be associated with each of the motors. This is a critical obstruction to the miniaturization of the printer. Moreover, these stepping motors and electromagnetic clutches and therefore the printer as a whole is expensive.